A4 vs Lettersize, and printer settings

**Plumdragon** · #1 08-08-2014, 03:29 PM

Hello Friends

Once again, I looked in what I assume is the right section of this forum, but drew a blank....
Mainly aimed at our European cousins - when designing a model, especially for downloading, I've found that the best idea is to keep the designs constrained to U.S. Letter size format (with a good margin) because our American friends (unless something very radical has happened in the last few years) use this size of paper, which is smaller than A4.
The disappointment at realizing my carefully scaled first aircraft model could not be printed in America at the right size, because it fit so snugly on a too big A4 canvas, was immense!
And it is extremely useful to say on the model sheets just exactly what the printer percentage should be (usually 100%, of course) because I have found that a lot of printers default to "resize image to fit screen" which is not good if you've designed a weeny 1/100 scale model on a canvas the size of a postcard, and your printer decides all by itself to enlarge it to fill the paper.
This may seem like teaching your Granma to suck eggs, but sometimes it's the simple things like this that can make the difference between a pleasurable build or a chore

Plumdragon

**SCEtoAUX** · #2 08-08-2014, 05:58 PM

USLetter size is wider than A4, but it is shorter. I use both A4 and USLetter size cardstock, depending on the origin of the model. Printing a model layed out to fit A4 onto USLetter size cardstock and Fit To Page selected usually reduces the model to between 94% and 97% which does indeed change the scale. The A4 size cardstock is then used so the scale remains the same. (Just got a Led Zeppelin flashback)

**rickstef** · #3 08-08-2014, 06:42 PM

There is also a school of thought that feels that the "canvas" should be around 7.50 by 10 inches in size

reason being, it fits squarely on both sheets and it is the most usable size for layout, and you have scrap paper for reinforcements and the like

Rick

**richkat** · #4 08-08-2014, 06:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SCEtoAUX

The A4 size cardstock is then used so the scale remains the same. (Just got a Led Zeppelin flashback)

Dang now that song is stuck in my head...........thanks..........Rich

**Art Deco** · #5 08-10-2014, 06:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rickstef

There is also a school of thought that feels that the "canvas" should be around 7.50 by 10 inches in size

reason being, it fits squarely on both sheets and it is the most usable size for layout, and you have scrap paper for reinforcements and the like

Here is a thread that discusses this topic in detail:

A4 and US Letter PDF Compatibility?